Skin Deep
by wth18
Summary: Rev angst set during a scene in Harper 2.0. My first Rev fic, please review!


TITLE: Skin Deep  
DISCLAIMER: Andromeda still owned by Tribune. (You lucky, lucky bastards!)  
RATING: PG-13  
WARNINGS: No (gasp!) naughty words in this, but rated for violence and themes.  
SUMMARY: Rev POV during a scene from H2.0. Pretty self-explanatory. Will probably not go beyond this.  
ARCHIVE: Go ahead, but tell me where it goes ahead to.

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Rev breathed deeply. He was afraid to turn the corner, or perhaps afraid was too strong a word. He was apprehensive, undoubtedly, but could he really be afraid when he knew that he would not come to any harm.

_Physical harm, anyway_, his mind whispered in his ear, and he shuddered. Offering a silent prayer to the Divine and touching the symbol slung around his neck, he turned round the corner silently, talons not making even the quietest click against the floor.

The small human was working steadily, searching for something among the piles of scrap metal. He didn't hear Rev enter, and the Magog knew that he would have to announce his presence gently.

'Perhaps I could be of some assistance,' he called softly. His heart sank as Harper stiffened, his whole body tensing up. His head turned slightly, as if he was about to say something, and Rev was caught unawares as the pole Harper was gripping was suddenly whipping past the Magog's face. The engineer had swung it round, allowing the weight of the metal to pick up speed. If it had collided it would have hurt, maybe even shattered Rev's skull. But before he could react the pole was hissing through the air again, and Rev was forced to duck and cringe away again and again.

'Come on you bloodsucker!' Harper yelled defiantly, trying to raise a reaction from Rev, swinging the pole at him again and again.

'Harper… look at me! I am not your enemy,' Rev pleaded with him, still trying to ward off the blows. One well-aimed sweep caught him across the shoulders and he winced in pain. The human was trying to kill him. Any normal Magog would have ripped out Harper's throat by now, but Rev was not normal. He closed his eyes and remembered The Way.

'And I'm not your next meal!' Harper hissed back malevolently, swinging the pole again, and then jabbing it forward into Rev's stomach. 'Murder! Rapist!'

Rev tried everything to show that he meant no harm. He tried to make himself smaller, to back away. He told Harper that he would not fight him. Harper didn't care.

'Even better!' He suddenly tucked one hand behind his back and began to spin it until it cut through the air like a silvery Catherine Wheel. Then he whipped the end of the pole forward again.

For a few seconds, Rev was sure that he was going to die, and sadness overcame his fear. What had happened? He remembered the Harper that he knew. When they had first met, Harper had feared and hated the Magog, despite Rev's assurances that he followed The Way, but gradually they had become… friends? Was that the right word? Yes, friends would do for now. But even in the beginning Harper had never been like this. Now the look in Harper's eyes made Rev feel ashamed of what he was, and when he ducked this time it lacked any energy or enthusiasm.

Just as death approached. Dylan appeared, apparently from nowhere, and his strong hands gripped the pole as it swung towards Rev. Harper was fuelled by rage, fiery and overcoming, but Dylan was coldly angry, and he knocked Harper to the ground with one well-placed push, yanking the weapon away as he did so. Beka turned the corner right after him.

'Harper. Back. Off,' Dylan said slowly and clearly, his anger glimmering through his voice. Harper propped himself up on his elbows and looked steadily at Rev, who looked back uncertainly. What would Harper do now? Was he calm, would he back off like Dylan said?

_It's not my fault. I can't help what I am. Leave me alone. Divine help me,_ Rev cried inwardly, cringing away. He had grown used to this, the look of disgust in strangers' eyes, the way he was seen as a monster instead of a person. But to have earned friendship through such toil, to have had a friend who accepted him despite the fact that he was a Magog, and then to have friendship ripped away like a bandage from a raw wound rips away skin, it was unbearable.

But the worst was not over. The pole was gone, Harper could not rend flesh, and he could not hit Rev over and over again like he had done before. But he could still cause pain. Harper was not just angry and misguided; he has angry, misguided and _full of knowledge_.

'You are a monster, you are a devil, you belong in Hell. The Divine does not love you. The Divine did not create you. The Divine wants you to die because you are nothing but a filthy Magog, you are the plague of the Known Worlds,' Harper snarled at Rev, their eyes locked, blunt, harmless teeth glittering like diamonds. Rev was horrified. Why couldn't Beka and Dylan hear this? Why were they looking confused instead of scolding? Why? Because the words that tumbled from Harper's mouth were not in Common, but in the screeching and snarling tones of Magog.

'Harper… you do not mean that,' Rev gasped, trying to assure himself more than anything else. Harper's eyes glittered. He saw the chink in the dragon's armour, and he dug the tip of the dagger in deeper.

'I hate you. I always hated you. You were well named, Red Plague. You are a disease. You cause nothing but pain. You murder people like me. You rape me; you lay your filthy eggs in my stomach to make more little murderers and rapists to destroy everything beautiful in the world. You would do well to let me kill you now and stop the suffering. What good are you to anyone?'

'You do not mean that!' Rev cried again, but it wasn't working any longer. He felt his nature – the feelings that he had kept dormant – rising up. He could see the exact place on Harper's throat where he could strike, where he could force blood to bubble out of Harper's foul mouth, to choke the flow of terrible words.

'My mother was killed by things like you! Where is your mother? How much pain did you cause her? How much time did she have to despise you before you _killed _her, before you _ate _her…'

And that was it. Suddenly the barriers were broken down and the blood-lust was let through. Harper did mean it, but soon he would mean nothing.

'I'll kill you! I'll rip you apart, small one!'

Dylan was taken too much by surprise to stop the whirl of Magog from bearing down on Harper. The human was backed into the wall, hitting it heavily, and the Magog held him there with one outstretched arm, a talon resting a few inches from Harper's eye, another upraised behind Red Plague, ready to strike at the jugular. Finally the hunger would be over. Harper did not show any fear, he did not cringe, and he looked death and the eye and smiled because he knew that this would show he was right all along.

Red Plague tensed his muscles for the blow, but suddenly it was caught by an iron grip, and a quiet voice pervaded the red mist.

'The Way, Rev. Remember The Way,' Dylan said gently, and suddenly Red Plague… no… _Rev Bem_ remembered. For a few seconds more, a snarl escaped him and urge to kill tugged at him impatiently. Then he was once again filled with the spirit of the Divine, and he stopped. The tense muscles of his killer's body relaxed bit by bit, and he drew the talons away from Harper's face. Rev staggered back, and Harper's face crumpled, the old frightened human back and the evil tormentor hidden again beneath an innocent face.

Rev ran down the corridor of the Andromeda and somehow managed to let himself into his quarters. His vision was distorted, his head felt blurry, his blue eyes were only now losing their coldness. He sat down heavily and sobbed. What a strange sight he must have made, a gentle monster crying like a baby. He sank into deep meditation, asking the Divine to forgive him and fill him with the strength to go on. He had held back from killing this time, but could he do it again?

Next time.

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_Ahem. Feel free to review. This is my first Rev fic, I don't know if I got him right. What do you think? Yay or nay?_


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